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Representing Immigrant Clients: Representing clients who are immigrants requires an attorney to appreciate the impact of language, culture, and immigration law on the representation and to know how to use available resources. Cultural Competence. Cultural and language barriers often pose challenges for immigrant clients that attorneys should be aware of regardless of their area of practice. Recognizing and understanding those barriers takes training and experience. Attorneys can increase their cultural competence through continuing legal education programs offered by the Minnesota State Bar Association and local and specialty bar associations that might earn elimination-of-bias credit. Cultural proficiency workshops are conducted at Neighborhood House in St Paul and Building Cultural Bridges, and advocacy training and migrant rights tool kits are also available. Community cultural centers are resources for finding cultural or language-specific services. Examples in the Twin Cities include the Hmong Cultural Center, the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota, and Clues, which serves the Latino community. Communicating with your Client. Speaking the same language as the clients is the best way to ensure good communication and understanding between the attorney and client. If the attorney does not speak a client’s language fluently or does not have fluent staff members, a translator will be necessary. Attorneys should be cautious about using friends and relatives of clients for translation because they might not be fluent in both languages, may lack understanding of the importance of translating exactly what is being communicated, or their interests may be at odds with the clients’ interests. In emergencies, an attorney can contact Language Line to have someone translate over the telephone. A qualified in-person interpreter is best. A list of court-certified interpreters is available on the Minnesota Supreme Court website. Using the interpreter roster will satisfy your responsibility to find a qualified interpreter. Qualified interpreters may also be available within the community. An attorney may need to contact a lawyer who is fluent in the language to be a good resource or a potential referral. Resources for referrals include the Minnesota State Bar Association's attorney referral service, Colleague program, or a listserv such as the solo small listserv, or one of the specialty bar associations such as the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association, Asian Pacific Bar Association or a local bar association. Awareness of Immigration Issues. Attorneys representing immigrant clients should be aware of their client’s immigration status, inform themselves about how a client’s citizenship may affect their legal rights in a particular area, and understand how facts, claims, or issues in their matter might impact their citizenship status. On March 31, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. ___, 130 S. Ct. 1473 (2010), that a criminal defense attorney who does not inform immigrant clients of possible immigration consequences of a guilty plea may be providing constitutionally deficient assistance of counsel. The decision speaks clearly to the need for practitioners in other areas to either confer with an immigration attorney or educate themselves. While Padilla speaks volumes in the context of plea negotiations, other dispositions and processes may require immigration knowledge, too. Petitions, probable cause statements, complaints, and motions should be reviewed with an immigration lens on. Colleagues as a Resource. Continuing legal education seminars and training programs such as the one available to criminal defense attorneys through the National Immigrant Justice Center can increase an attorney’s awareness of immigration issues in his or her practice. However, the best approach to avoid unintentionally jeopardizing a client’s immigration status is to associate, formally or informally, with an immigration attorney who can advise you of issues that commonly arise in your particular practice area or affect a particular client’s immigration case. Attorneys should communicate with the client’s immigration counsel, if any, or refer the client to an immigration attorney who can advise them. Resources for finding an immigration attorney include the Immigrant Law Center, Volunteer Lawyers Network (VLN)’s Linea Legal Latina, the MSBA’s lawyer finding service and the Colleague program. The MSBA Immigration Law Section, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, or the solosmall listserv are other good resources for finding local immigration attorneys. There are many resources in the community to assist you and your client to ensure all of their legal needs are being met. Coordination with an immigration attorney and other cultural and language oriented resources is essential. And remember: when in doubt, ask.
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